There has been proposed an inkjet printer that applies a treating agent to a recording medium prior to and/or after ink ejection to the recording medium. The treating agent is liquid or solid (film-shaped, for example) agent with desired characteristics.
A treating agent that is applied prior to ink ejection (pre-treating agent) prevents ink blur and ink seep through, improves color development, reduces dry time, and prevents recording medium cockle and curl that may occur after ink ejection. Note that “ink seep through” means that ink ejected on a surface of a recording medium seeps through the recording medium to the other side thereof. A treating agent that is applied after ink ejection (post-treating agent) forms a layer to protect images formed on a recording medium by improving rub resistance, water resistance, light resistance, gas resistance, and the like, and to produce gross on the surface of the recording medium.
There is also known a method for suppressing ink blur and the like by reducing the ejection amount of ink droplets without using a treating agent when the remaining amount of the treating agent is low.